REVIEW: Accidental Love for Three by Rachel Clark

_______________________________________________________________Blurb

Tracey’s horrific car accident brings her husband, Gavin, and her best friend, Lee, to her bedside. As Tracey goes into surgery, Gavin realizes something he’d never noticed before—Tracey’s best friend loves her as much as he does.

Emotionally raw and physically exhausted, he confronts Lee with his suspicion and pushes her to eventually confess her feelings to Tracey. Gavin is prepared to face the consequences. He wants his wife to be happy, even if that means she’s with someone else. But Tracey surprises both Gavin and Lee when she explains she wants both of them in her life.

Can Tracey, Gavin, and Lee find a way through confused and tangled emotions to happiness for all three?______________________________________________________________________

My Review

Tracey and Lee are best friends and secretly in love with each other since college. They both thought that they had no chance with the other, so neither of them acted on the attraction. When Tracey fell in love and married Gavin, Lee lost all her hope of being together with Tracey, but they remained friends.

The story starts with Tracey almost being killed in a car accident. Witnessing Lee’s worry and dread of the possibility of losing Tracey, Gavin realizes something he’d never noticed before — Lee loves his wife as much as he does.

He confronts Lee with his suspicion and pushes her to eventually confess her feelings to Tracey. Gavin is prepared to face the consequences. He wants his wife to be happy, even if that means she’s with someone else. But Tracey surprises both Gavin and Lee when she explains she wants both of them in her life.

The relationship dynamics are almost the same as in A Future for Three. The same doubts, insecurities, and assumptions occur. What different is that before going for a poly-happily-ever-after, the characters establish two parallel relationships: Tracey and Gavin invite Lee into their life, Tracey maintains a romantic relationship separately with Lee, meanwhile she continues her marriage with Gavin. After one and a half years it becomes pretty obvious that this arrangement doesn’t work for either of them.

Something had changed, something indefinable had shifted, and his world was no longer the way he wanted it, and he had no idea how to ask for what he sought.
Things had seemed to be going so well and then suddenly, they weren’t. It was both comforting and disturbing to realize that he wasn’t the only one tasting dissatisfaction with their current arrangement.

Gavin slowly falls in love with Lee, and the feeling is mutual. As it clears out, all that Tracey wants is the three of them together in a triad relationship.

The time span is believable, the doubts and insecurities are real and consequent, though a little bit exaggerated. All of the three characters feel the same throughout the story, and it results in a lots of repetitions.

What left me a little skeptical was their fear of voicing their feelings and desires. I hate non-communication. In a marriage (we don’t know how long Tracey and Gavin are together, but it seems to be years), and a friendship that lasts since college I think there is no space for non-communication and withholding things from each other.

The erotica is nicely done, but the plot, characterization and writing style are flawed.